USS Kickapoo
From CivilWarWiki
| |
| USS Kickapoo | |
|---|---|
Career | |
| Type and class | Double-turreted ironclad monitor Milwaukee-class |
| Authorized | May 27, 1862 |
| Shipyard | G. B. Allen & Company St. Louis, Missouri |
| Keel laid | 1864 |
| Launched | 1864 |
| Commissioned | July 8, 1864 |
| Fate | Sold at public auction September 12, 1874 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 220 feet |
| Beam | 57 feet |
| Draft | 6 feet |
| Displacement | 970 tons |
| Propulsion | Two steam engines Four propellers |
| Speed | 9 knots |
| Armament | Four 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbores |
| Compliment | 123 officers and men |
USS Kickapoo was a double-turreted monitor built at St. Louis by G. B. Allen & Co., in 1864 and commissioned at Mound City, 111., 8 July 1864, Lieutenant David C. Woods in command.
After serving the Mississippi squadron off the mouth of the Red River during the summer, the new ironclad was transferred to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron 1 October and stationed in Mobile Bay, where Admiral David Farragut was building up strength for operations against the forts which protected the city. Lieutenant Commander Meriweather P. Jones assumed command of the monitor 23 December.
In the spring of 1865 Kickapoo engaged in the dangerous work of sweeping the water approaches to the forts clearing defensive minefields. On 28 March she rescued the crew of Milwaukee after the ship struck a torpedo and sunk. The next day she was on hand to save the men of Osage after that monitor had met a similar fate.
Late In June Kickapoo sailed for New Orleans where she decommissioned 29 July and was laid up. Her name was changed to Cyclops 15 June 1869 and then Kewaydin 10 August. She was sold at public auction in New Orleans to Schickels, Harrison & Co., 12 September 1874.
Part of the text is incorporated from the United States Navy's Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, a work in the public domain.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
